Putting pen to paper

Workshop aims to bring out writer’s stories

September 23, 2013

A local woman left money to the Blue Earth Community Library and they decided to put it toward an event they could continue doing.

That event ended up being a way for local writers to share their story.

A group called Blue Earth River Writers was formed and got to work planning a writers' workshop.

"This will be our second annual writers workshop,"?says Eva Gaydon, librarian at BECL.

This year the event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Hope United Methodist Church in Blue Earth and will have two sessions.

Doors for the event open at 8 a.m., meet and greet begins at 8:30 a.m. and the morning session starts at 9 a.m.

Lunch is included in the registration fee and will be held in between the morning and afternoon sessions.

"We encourage people to stay for the lunch because it's a good time to discuss the sessions, or go off in a corner to write down some of their ideas," Gaydon adds.

There will be four morning sessions and three in the afternoon. The sessions will be led by four different writers.

"I?try to find writers who can also teach," Gaydon explains.

She also says they try to find writers with different backgrounds, which is how she came across the four who will be attending the workshop this year. Those writers include; Fredrick Blanch, Jay Gabler, Frank Bures and Athena Kildegaard.

"We are lucky to have found this diverse mix of people,"?Gaydon says.

Some of the sessions include creative writing for an online audience, travel writing, playing with revision, showing a story and putting final touches on a story.

"Anyone can come, whether they have been published or have never written before," Gaydon says.

People interested in attending the workshop should register as soon as possible.

"There is no deadline and people can register at the door, but we'd like to have a good idea of how many people will be attending,"?she adds.

The cost is $25 or just $15 for students through grade 12.

"We pushed the workshop back from when it was held last year in order to get more students, high school and college,"?Gaydon says.

She adds that last year the workshop did have a variety of ages in attendance, from middle schoolers up to senior citizens.

Gaydon says the event is casual and held in intimate settings so people can feel comfortable to freely express ideas.

"The tagline of the event is, 'There is a story in all of us,' so we want to help get those ideas flowing," she adds.

People interested in attending can register online at becl.org or at the door on the day of the event.